To a Catholic, this is, after all, the most important view, and must not
be overlooked; at the same time it is obvious that it cannot be done
justice to in a condensed pamphlet of this kind.
There is about the same difference between the moral atmosphere of the
rural Catholic colonies to which we invite our people, and the back
streets and alleys of the over-crowded city, as there is between the
pure air of the prairie and the foul air of the city lane.
Some time ago, a friend from the East, to whom we were showing some of
our Catholic settlements, said to us,
"Why, it is not surprising that the people settled out here in the
country should be moral and religious, they have much to make them so,
and nothing to make them otherwise in their surroundings; but look at
our poor people, huddled together in the tenement houses of New York.
When you find them good, give them praise."
"And many of them are good," we said.
"Oh, yes," he answered; "but the great danger is to the children. The
priest does his best, the Catholic parent grounded in his religion
before he ever saw a city does his best, but his circumstances compel
him to live where the foul air reeks with blasphemy, and low debauchery;
vice and drunkenness are ever before their eyes."
This is a very sad picture, but a very true one. It is a fearful reality
before the eyes of many a poor Catholic parent, who obliged to be
continually absent from his children, knows but too well the society
they are likely to fall into.
In our Catholic colonies in Minnesota a parent has no such dread. He
knows where his boys are on week days; they are helping him on the farm.
He knows where they are on Sundays; they are with him at church. When
they are amusing themselves, he knows that they are with the young
people of his neighbors, their companions and co-religionists.
Here, too, the anxious heart of the loving mother is at rest; for she
sees her daughters associating with the good and innocent of their own
age, and growing up pure and virtuous.
"God made the country and man made the town," is an old saying. The
immigration of those of our people adapted to agricultural life from the
city to the land will be a benefit, not alone to themselves, but to
those they leave behind. By this healthful drain the latter will be left
more room, and have more opportunities to better their condition.
From any side we view it, it is a great and good work to encourage and
labor for Catholic immigration to the land, where INDEPENDENCE shall
reward labor, and Catholic zeal shall spread our holy faith over the
fertile prairies of the West.
We would be very sorry to see, even if it was practicable, our people
leaving the cities _en masse_. Many of them, well adapted for city life,
rise to prosperity and social position in the city. Some to high
professional or business standing, others to moderate respectable
independence; others, in humbler walks of life, to decent homes of their
own, and the city affords to the well brought up children of such homes,
many solid advantages. We want full representation for our people in the
city, and full representation on the land. By encouraging those of our
people adapted, and best adapted for agricultural pursuits, to seek the
land, we benefit them and benefit those who remain behind as well, for
we give the latter healthy room and more opportunities: in a word, we
improve the condition of our people, both in the city and in the
country.
A STATEMENT IN REGARD TO THE RELATIONS WE HOLD TOWARDS IMMIGRANTS. WHAT
THEY MAY EXPECT.